When Moses finished building the Tabernacle, he stood outside and refused to go in. His reasoning, according to the Targum Jonathan, was striking: Mount Sinai had been holy for only three days, and even then he could not ascend until God spoke to him first. The Tabernacle's holiness was eternal. So how could he dare enter without an explicit invitation?
This is a detail the standard text of Leviticus never mentions. The Hebrew Bible simply says God called to Moses from the Tent of Meeting (Leviticus 1:1). The Targum adds an entire inner monologue, portraying Moses as a man who understood boundaries—even with God.
The rest of the chapter lays out the burnt offering laws, but even here the Targum makes theological insertions. Offerings must come from domesticated animals only—"not from wild beasts." And crucially, the text specifies that only those who are not "rebellious worshippers of idols" may bring offerings at all. The standard Leviticus text says nothing about excluding idolaters; the Targum draws a hard line.
Every detail of the sacrifice gets expanded: the priest must use his right hand specifically, the blood goes into basins before being sprinkled, and each step carries the phrase "to be received with grace before the Lord." Where the Hebrew Bible gives instructions, the Targum gives theology. The offering is not just a ritual—it is a propitiation, a mechanism for restoring relationship between a human being and the divine.
The Targum transforms the driest legal chapter of Leviticus into something more intimate: a story about hesitation, worthiness, and what it means to approach the presence of God.